Sight reading - piano - grade 4 - best way to improve?

[roisin]

ds2 is working towards grade 4. His playing, aural and scales are all fine. But I think sight reading is his current weakness.

What do you think is the best way to improve this?
Insist he does a piece of sight reading every time he practices? (He's very diligent with practice).

Are there any piano teachers here? Do you recommend these books?
Paul Harris Sight Reading

[ImNotaCelebrity]

Paul Harris books are great - I think they're the best around.
And it's easy enough to work in sight reading to every practice. At the end of the day, the more he does, the better he'll get. And it doesn't necessarily need to be specific sight reading books, just make sure he has access to plenty of new material to try out, rather than going over the same stuff all the time.

[CristinadellaPizza]

Practice, practice, practice. A lot of libraries have sheet music you can take out - trying to play unfamiliar pieces is the best way of getting better really, don't know about those books but that's how I did it. Once you get it, it's like riding a bike, you never forget :)

[roisin]

Thanks guys. I can sight read pretty well (up to a certain level obviously), but I can't remember how I did it? I think it was probably just years of not doing much practice between lessons, and having to wing it! LOL.

ds2 is very diligent with his practice, so I'll get that book I think and insist he does 1 or 2 every day as part of his routine.

[SouthernandCross]

Our teacher recommends Paul Harris and works us all through them as we approach each grade. Once you've worked your way through the entire book, the exam piece is a piece of p*ss!

[Moominmammacat]

Get cheap, easy music from charity shops and do one piece with every practice!